Woodside/Mudslide Horse Trials??

Rain came early this year and made the Woodside Horse Trials a show we won't soon forget. I had thought my Burghley wellies wouldn't come out quite so soon, boy was I wrong. The whole team was so incredible, not only as riders, but as good horsemen and even better, friends to one another. I am proud of you for all for “riding better”!

Photos: http://rickncheryl.smugmug.com/gallery/6155586_jPmQG#387676982_ai3bQ

The results:

Training Team, "Ride Better", 1st place! Danielle, Karina, Sydnee, and Alexa
Danielle and Ash 1st Place Jr. Training
Sophie and Cooper 1st Place Jr. Beg. Novice
Alexa and Kalypso 3rd Jr. Training
Alexandra and Noah 5th OPEN PRELIM! =)
Holly and Rigs 7th Jr. Novice
Gill and Cash 7th Sr. Beg. Novice
Karina and Memo 9th Jr. Training
Emily and Bodie 11th Jr. Novice
Sydnee and Allison B both had incredible moments, but wasn’t to be their weekend. Toby and Zara were good ponies, let’s get those memories workin’!

Twin!
The September Twin Event is already over. It was more than a 100 degrees but I'm happy to report we all made it through. Claire and Fable, and Karina and Zara both made the move up to Training Level and put in clean x-c rounds. Karina rode incredibly well and earned a well deserved 4th place while Claire was out of the ribbons this time around. Nikki and her horse Patton joined the THF team for the first time and I'm really looking forward to helping this team move forward. Patton is still a bit unsure about ditches but I'm confident we'll work through that this winter. Danielle and Ash earned the 6th place ribbon with solid jumping rounds. This was to be Cooper's first Training level and while we had some great moments, it wasn't our weekend. We took off long to a big table and Cooper didn't have quite enough in him to clear it cleanly, knocking me out of the tack. I couldn't be happier with his stadium performance, as he put in a double clear round in the ring and he tried so hard in everything I asked of him. Falling off is part of the game. We'll get there next time.

Burghley!

Lora, Allison and I got to spend an INCREDIBLE week in England August 31-Sept 8th to watch the Burghley Horse Trials and spend a few days sight seeing in good 'ole jolly England. It was to be the wettest Burghley in history, but that didn't change how just how great the trip was. It was an experience I'll never forget.

Woodside- August 2008
The August event at Woodside happened waaayyy too quickly after we got back from Montana. Congratulations to everyone on another successful THF weekend. I am proud of you all for doing such a wonderful job this weekend, and for having such a supportive group of showing and non-showing riders.

Now, the big round of applause goes to Gill and Cash, who not only completed their first real horse trials together but did it in style, taking home the blue! 1st place is a pretty good start to your eventing career Gill! =)

Kalypso was out of the ribbons in the Training division, but gave me super rides in his first training level competition to finish 12th out of 25.

Karina and Memo made it through their Training level debut. Hard to believe this pair had trouble over a BN log less than a year ago!

Danielle and her mare, Ash, finished 6th in the Jr. Novice. This was Danielle’s first show with us and she fits right in. I’m happy to have them on the team and look forward to seeing how far they can come.

Rachel Harnish and Bodie put in their best dressage test together, earning a well deserved 5th in the Sr. BN division. All the hard work on the flat is paying off.

Kyana and Seeker had the biggest cheering section by far and did a superb job of making it through her first ever event.

Allison and Kelsey were awesome to watch, finishing on their dressage score, good enough to earn them 2nd! Now if only Allison actually had time to practice!

Lastly, Mamma Mia and Julie had a clean x-c! Julie rode Mia around the course beautifully and gave Mia a confidence building first event. Mia has only been in training for 5 weeks and jumped her first course just 2 weeks ago. Go Mia! =)

Montana...

The updates are long over due. I'm not sure where to begin except to say that Montana seems so long ago and I can't wait for next year. It was a brilliant trip with Alexandra and Noah taking home the blue in the Jr. Training division. Cooper was consistent as he always is, and him and I took home 6th in the Open Novice. Karina and Coco Puff were 6th in the Jr. Novice. This was their last time competing as a team, as Puffy will now be hitting the trail and enjoying a well deserved semi-retirement. Claire and Fable were 8th in the Jr. Novice, making it just one second off the optimum time without a watch! Holly and Sydnee finished 14th and 15th respectively in their divisions. All together, there were 6 double clean x-c rides, I couldn't be happier with the team.

Links to photos on Rick's website http://rickncheryl.smugmug.com/gallery/5590555_8oCap#343079488_o8oGU

Safety Summit:
With all of the recent tradgedies in the eventing world, the USEA and USEF has responded by organizing a safety summit to be held in Kentucky June 7th-8th. I will be attending the summit in hopes of learning what we can do to ensure horse and rider safety. In order to help pay for the trip I'll be holding a "clinic" on Sunday May 18th, focusing on pace and course work.


FROM USEA/USEF
In recent months, there have been a number of accidents to competitors and horses participating in our sport. These incidents have united all eventing riders who care deeply about the horses, their welfare and the image of the sport. All of us are now in a quest to better understand what might be contributing to these occurrences and what might be done to prevent them.
To that end, USEF President David O'Connor and USEA President Kevin Baumgardner are calling for a USEF/USEA Safety Summit to be held in Lexington, KY, June 7-8, 2008.
We invite you all to join us as we work together to seek solutions that we hope will result in a safer sport. Click here to register for the Safety Summit.

ROLEX!

The THF team headed to Kentucky in late April to watch the Rolex four star event http://www.rk3de.org/ . I can't even begin to describe the level of horses and riders. What an inspiration! Not only did we get to watch some incredible riding, we took a trip to Dr. Wayne Browning's farm, toured my old barn, and made an early morning visit to Keeneland where we watched the horses gallop, followed by breakfast at the track kitchen. Look for the Rolex photo CD to be coming soon. Above photo, Rolex Winner Philip Dutton aboard Connaught.

April Updates
It has been a while since I've updated the blog. The year has been full of lessons, shows, and traveling. April was the busiest month of all with horse shows every weekend. Some of the highlights below...

Twin Rivers One Day: The Rusty Mables made their group debut with Lora Quinlan and Memo taking home the blue ribbon! Gill Ward and Cash were just as awesome, earning second place. Allison Hulme and Kelsey also placed 2nd (there were 2 divisions) despite the fact that Kelsey thought they should have been jumping higher, and Bob Garcia and Claire rounded out the group with a 5th place. Not only did everyone earn ribbons, they all stayed on AND remembered their courses! The Jr. Members of THF were all in fine form and gave solid performances in all 3 phases. Kyana and Seeker made their debut after being together a month and took home 3rd. Holly and Rigs moved up to Novice and Karina took Sydnee's new mare, Zara around the course easily. A big Thank You to Twin Rivers for holding this clinic!

April Ram Tap: Just a few days home and it was off to the Ram Tap Horse Trials the following weekend.
The trip consisted of 4 riders, Danielle Chou (riding Toby), Alexa Wolf (riding Kalypso), Sophie Hulme (riding Cooper), and Alexandra Chou (riding Noah). Danielle had not ridden in an event in almost a year, and it had been even longer since she'd done an "away" event. Her and Toby made it all look easy despite a "dismount" on the x-c and finished 2nd in the Jr. Novice. Alexandra and Noah made their way around the Training Level course and put in one of their best stadium courses to date taking home a well deserved 4th place. Alexa and Kalypso are showing huge improvement and a confident smack off the down bank gave Kalypso the push he needed. They continue to improve every time out. Lastly, Sophie and Cooper were the stars of the show not only earning a 23.5 in the dressage, but maintaining that lead all the way to the end, coming home with the blue ribbon and lots of cool prizes. Sophie and Cooper have made their way from cross rail classes to Beginner Novice in record time and will be an exciting pair to watch.

Twin Rivers: The Twin Rivers event April 18-20th was a small group, with just 3 horses going. I rode Alexa's Kalypso, Holly made her official Novice debut on Rigs, and Emily made her eventing debut with her horse Bodie. Kalypso put in his best performance yet. I felt it wasn't our best dressage but it still managed to score fairly well. The half halts are a work in progress =) Kalypso went around the stadium like a hunter and I feel confident we have the correct bit on him for each phase. Cross country was great, with him really listening to my hand and leg equally. Alexa's ride the weekend before at Ram Tap was just what he needed. He kept himself together throughout the whole weekend and came away with a 5th place. Holly and Rigs made their first Novice look easy. They had a respectable dressage and continued to climb up the placings with a double clear stadium. Holly rode a little conservative on the x-c which earned a handful of time penalties, moving up to 400mpm is a big step at this level and takes some getting used to. I am really proud of her for riding so well in all 3 phases and for being a smart, safe rider on course. Holly and Rigs finished 7th. Emily and Bodie were the least experienced of the group. Bodie has only done 2 horse trials previously and Emily is an eventing newbie. They showed their greenness in the dressage by forgetting to salute, oops! Emily took the quick way around the stadium but managed to keep all the rails up. Bodie's strong suit is definitely the cross country, being a former fox hunter it's clear that this is the phase he loves. Emily rode well throughout and they took home 6th place.

A great month for all the horses and riders. Watch for the THF team at the May Woodside, we'll be there in FULL force with 10 horses/riders!

Makenna (aka “When I Dream”)
June 6th 2007-February 26th 2008

It is with a heavy heart that I write this. Today, my little filly Makenna passed away. She was only 9 months old and was a very special girl to all those who knew and loved her. Makenna had already proved to be a tough girl, pulling through a septic hock at just 3 months old, she was truly her mother’s daughter. Today, Makenna colicked, and despite the attempts by the wonderful vets in Washington, was unable to pull through. I will miss my sweet girl, who is now galloping in greener pastures with her big brother Tucker. Remember to hug your loved ones, especially your animals, their time with us can be so limited. - Meg